Red Nova 2022, reserve your seats now!

[Xorth Tanovar]

http://www.astronomy.com/news/2017/01/2022-red-nova

"In 2022, there will be a spectacular sky show. Two stars will merge into one, pushing out excess gas into an explosion known as a red nova. At magnitude 2, it will be as bright as Polaris in the sky, and just behind Sirius and Vega in brightness. The collision in the constellation of Cygnus will be visible for up to six months."

So who else is looking forward to seeing this?

 

Edited January 16, 2017 by Xorth Tanovar

[justidutch]

Dang, I'm gonna start making popcorn!

[Codraroll]

You mean that where there used to be a small dot that was too faint to notice, now there will be a bigger and brighter dot, but still smaller and less bright than several of the other dots that use to be there all the time?

It's exciting because we know what that dot represents and implies, but I doubt I would have noticed it at all if I hadn't been told about it. I don't watch the sky regularly enough to know which dots use to be bright or not, or where they are, unless they are part of a well-known constellation.

[YNM]

Interesting application of lightcurves. Hope that it'd turn about right and this could easily be yet another importance of detailed photometry.

[kerbiloid]

9 hours ago, Codraroll said:

I don't watch the sky regularly enough to know which dots use to be bright or not, or where they are, unless they are part of a well-known constellation.

Words of a true spaceman

[78stonewobble]

Finally! Some action over the blanket in the milkyway.

[Scotius]

Knowing my luck and weather in Poland? There will be clouds all over the sky during the event.

[Xorth Tanovar]

6 minutes ago, Scotius said:

Knowing my luck and weather in Poland? There will be clouds all over the sky during the event.

I hear you on that. I may invest in a SLOOH membership and steer one of their scopes to see it.

 

But if luck is with me, I'll pull out my 4.5" reflector and see what I can see locally...at that magnitude it would certainly show up. And if any substantial gas clouds form from it, could be pretty neat.

Edited January 17, 2017 by Xorth Tanovar

[KAL 9000]

I blame Jeb for the resulting explosion.

[cubinator]

I hope it's a really deep red, otherwise I won't know which dot I'm supposed to be excited about; I'm not familiar with Cygnus.

[munlander1]

I really hope I will be able to photograph this event through its entirety. It is so far away time wise though!

[Exploro]

1 hour ago, cubinator said:

I hope it's a really deep red, otherwise I won't know which dot I'm supposed to be excited about; I'm not familiar with Cygnus.

If it helps it also goes by the name Northern Cross. It's a fairly large constellation so it's not hard to spot.

[cubinator]

1 hour ago, Exploro said:

If it helps it also goes by the name Northern Cross. It's a fairly large constellation so it's not hard to spot.

I know where it is, it's just I hardly ever actually look at that part of the sky so I don't know it as well as I do the area around Orion.

[Exploro]

I see. Forgive my misunderstanding.

[NSEP]

I hope people make timelapses of this happending. Awesome!